Iranian men accused of plotting chlorine bomb attack on Manchester synagogue targeted last Yom Kippur

Two Iranian men conducted surveillance of a Manchester synagogue that was the site of a deadly terror attack a year ago as part of a plot to bomb it this year, a prosecutor says.

Salam Ahmadyan, 36, and Rahman Salehi, 34, researched attacking the Heaton Park Congregation Synagogue in Manchester in northwest England and the Jewish Museum in nearby Cheetham Hill, the court is told.

Ahmadyan and Salehi were arrested last month and charged Friday with engaging in conduct in preparation for terrorist acts.

Neither enter a plea during an appearance in Westminster Magistrates’ Court, where Judge Nina Tempia orders them held until an October 23 appearance at the Central Criminal Court in London.

Prosecutor Mark Luckett says the duo were directed by a third person believed to be in Iran who coordinated plans and provided instructions on making a homemade chlorine bomb.

The defendants were observed carrying out “a hostile reconnaissance within Manchester’s Jewish community,” Luckett says.

The Heaton Park synagogue was the site of a terrorist attack on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, on October 2, 2025, when Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, crashed his car into the gates and then began a knife attack while wearing a fake suicide belt.

Congregation members Melvin Cravitz, 66, and Adrian Daulby, 53, were killed by the terrorist and three other men were seriously wounded.

Ahmadyan and Salehi entered the UK without authorization in the past six years after crossing the English Channel by boat, the court is told. Salehi was granted asylum and Ahmadyan has a pending asylum claim.